The Center focuses on research in the field of emission, transport and
transformation of chemical compounds, bioavailability,
toxico-kinetics, effects on individual organisms, populations and
ecosystems.

It has no wet-lab facilities, but aims to bring advanced modeling
skills together in a optimal collaboration network to address
scientific problems of industries, governmental and scientific
institutions.

EU TGD spreadsheet This spreadsheet
incorporates risk assessment algorithms from the EU Technical
Guidance Documents 2003 in Excel spreadsheet format. The EU TGD
spreadsheet operates on the basis of the original RIVM
spreadsheets models SimpleTreat 3.1 and SimpleBox 3.0. It is
coded by Dik van der Meent, Mark Huijbregts and Tjalling Jager
and commissioned by the European Chemical Industry Council Cefic.

Department of Environmental Science, Radboud University, Nijmegen

The Department of Environmental Science performs scientific research
within the domain of integrated environmental science. One of the main
research topics is the modeling of (the uncertainty in) environmental
and human risks posed by chemicals and other stressors.

Our expertise includes the formulation of multimedia fate models at
various geographical scales (e.g. SimpleBox), human exposure models
and random walk bioaccumulation models. Apart from model development,
we validate our models by testing against empirical data and by
uncertainty analysis. Examples of techniques applied are (second
order) Monte Carlo simulation, Bootstrap analysis and Bayesian
statistics. The models developed and tested are applied in many
practical applications, such as risk assessment, screening of new
chemicals, model simplification by meta-model development, life cycle
impact assessment and deriving environmental quality standards.

The Department of Environmental Science will focus its activities on
the analysis of chemical fate and exposure, such as (1) the
development of regionalized fate and exposure models, simplified
meta-models, life cycle impact assessment models, (2) the analysis and
interpretation of uncertainty in model outcomes, and (3) the
application of models for actual risk assessment, screening purposes,
life cycle impact assessment, etcetera

Department of Theoretical Biology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

The Department of Theoretical Biology has an expertise in mathematical
modeling of biological systems at all levels of biological
organization (molecules, cells, organisms, populations, ecosystems,
system earth). The ideas on which these biological models are based
have a strong basis in chemistry and physics, which testifies of a
strong tradition in multi-disciplinary collaboration.

The expertise not only includes the formulation of the models, but
also all aspects of testing models against data (statistics; advising
on experimental design), and the analysis of properties of models
(e.g. bifurcation analysis). The experience of application of the
models to societal problems includes the fields of (eco)toxicity,
biodegradation, eutrophication, biotechnology (e.g. sewage water
treatment, bioproduction), industrial optimization, (environmental)
risk analysis, and global change.

Initially, the project Biomass of the department will focus its
activities on chemical risk assessment: advising on the design of
toxicity experiments, analysing and interpreting effects data, and
providing general scientific support for new chemical notification,
existing chemicals dossiers, etcetera.

The Department of Industrial Ecology is specialised in integrative
analysis for sustainability decision support. Modeling at CML-IE
involves relations between economic activities in society and extends
to environmental effects in the environment, in biosphere and
geosphere. They cover economy and technosphere, as the interface
between symbolic society and its physical environment. CML-IE models
may focus on particular substances and materials, including their
dynamic, as in SFA (substance flow analysis) and MFA (material flows
accounting) and energy & exergy analysis; they may focus on function
systems, as in LCA (Life Cycle Assessment); on broad regions, as in
IOA (environmentally extended Input-Output Analysis); on hybrid
combinations between these; and on dynamics in partial systems. These
models of societal activities link to sustainability aspects involved
in decision making:

economic aspects as in LCC (life cycle costing)

social aspects, especially at the aggregate level is in IOA

environmental aspects as related to resource extractions, emissions
and other environmental interventions

Extractions and emissions relate to global environmental cycles as the
human part of the global metabolism. Environmental effects resulting
are diverse and require adjusted modeling so as to integrate them
into evaluation for decision making. The other partners in NCEM are
leading in supplying this kind of interpretable information in two of
the main ultimate areas of concern involved: biodiversity, including
biotic depletion, and human health. Additionally, CML-IE has
experience in the analysis of abiotic depletion, and is involved at
the frontiers of integrative analysis, as in eco-efficiency analysis.